#food image editing services

[zphotoeditservice]

Professional food photography editing service from @ZphotoEdit.com. If you want to make your food photos delicious-looking, refer to our Food Image Editing Services. Your resource to discover and connect with designers worldwide.

[gelatinous-globster]

gonna post art later but while rewatching s2e5 "Nega-Globby" again I realized ive neglected to share one of my best creations with the world

[jonathaneric1]

Who Is The Best Automotive Photographer?

In this comprehensive guide, we embark on a journey to uncover the qualities that define excellence in automotive photography and explore the pivotal role of Car Image Editing Services and specialized techniques like Silo Path Editing Services in achieving outstanding results.

Understanding Excellence in Automotive Photography

Excellence in automotive photography encompasses a blend of technical expertise, artistic vision, and a deep understanding of automotive aesthetics. The best automotive photographers possess a keen eye for composition, lighting, and perspective, allowing them to capture vehicles in ways that evoke emotion, tell stories, and showcase their unique features and characteristics. Whether it's capturing the sleek lines of a sports car, the rugged terrain of an off-road vehicle, or the elegance of a luxury sedan, automotive photographers must master the art of visual storytelling to create captivating imagery that resonates with viewers.

Qualities of the Best Automotive Photographer

Technical Proficiency: The best automotive photographers demonstrate mastery of photography techniques, including exposure, lighting, and composition. They understand how to leverage natural and artificial light to highlight the contours and details of vehicles, creating images that are both visually striking and technically flawless.

Creativity and Innovation: Exceptional automotive photographers possess a creative vision that sets them apart from their peers. They are not afraid to experiment with angles, perspectives, and post-processing techniques to push the boundaries of traditional automotive photography and create imagery that is both memorable and distinctive.

Attention to Detail: From the gleam of polished chrome to the reflections in glossy paintwork, the best automotive photographers pay meticulous attention to detail. They understand that it's the little things that make a big difference in automotive photography, and they strive for perfection in every aspect of their work.

Adaptability and Versatility: The automotive photography landscape is diverse, encompassing everything from studio shoots and commercial assignments to on-location shoots and editorial spreads. The best automotive photographers are adaptable and versatile, able to excel in a variety of settings and conditions, regardless of the challenges they may encounter.

The Role of Car Image Editing Services

Behind every stunning automotive photograph lies a team of skilled professionals who specialize in Car Image Editing Services. These services play a crucial role in enhancing the visual appeal and professionalism of automotive imagery, ensuring that each photo meets the highest standards of excellence. From color correction and exposure adjustments to background removal and composite editing, Car Image Editing Services employs advanced techniques and specialized tools to transform raw images into polished works of art.

Leveraging Silo Path Editing Services for Precision

Within the realm of Car Image Editing Services, techniques like Silo Path Editing play a pivotal role in achieving precision and accuracy. Silo Path Editing involves creating precise selections around vehicles and their components using vector-based paths. By meticulously tracing the contours of cars, wheels, and other elements, editors can isolate them from their backgrounds with unparalleled accuracy, allowing for seamless manipulation, adjustment, or replacement while maintaining the integrity of the subject and surrounding elements.

The Search for the Best Automotive Photographer

When searching for the best automotive photographer, there are several factors to automobile Photo Editing Service consider:

Portfolio and Body of Work: Reviewing a photographer's portfolio and body of work is essential to gauge their style, creativity, and technical proficiency. Look for photographers whose work resonates with your aesthetic preferences and showcases a diverse range of automotive subjects and settings.

Client Testimonials and Reviews: Client testimonials and reviews provide valuable insights into a photographer's professionalism, reliability, and the quality of their work. Take the time to read reviews from past clients to ensure that the photographer has a track record of delivering exceptional results and providing excellent customer service.

Industry Recognition and Awards: Awards and industry recognition can serve as indicators of a photographer's talent and expertise. Look for photographers who have been recognized by reputable organizations and publications within the automotive photography community, as this can attest to their skill and credibility.

Communication and Collaboration: Effective communication and collaboration are essential for a successful photography project. Choose a photographer who listens to your needs, communicates clearly, and collaborates with you to bring your vision to life, ensuring a positive and productive experience from start to finish.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the quest to find the best automotive photographer is a journey fueled by creativity, expertise, and a passion for excellence. Whether it's capturing the sleek lines of a supercar, the rugged terrain of an off-road vehicle, or the elegance of a classic automobile, the best automotive photographers possess a unique blend of technical proficiency, artistic vision, and attention to detail. By leveraging specialized services like Car Image Editing Services and advanced techniques like Silo Path Editing, they elevate their imagery to new heights, creating captivating photographs that leave a lasting impression. As you embark on your search for the best automotive photographer, keep in mind the qualities that define excellence and the role that specialized services play in achieving outstanding results. With the right photographer and a collaborative approach, you can bring your automotive vision to life with stunning imagery that captivates and inspires.

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

Good Omens graphic novel update: March 2024

Happy March. We bumped into the one and only Maggie Service at an event earlier this month, and here she is with some enamel friends of ours:

It turns out, her words, not ours, that they’re not only good for the aesthetic, but handy for covering accidental food stains. Here she is showing off the gorgeous Aziraphale and Crowley pins to the crowd.

Anyway, we have a bumper one for you this month, and an important update on timings. Let’s get to it.

PledgeManager

First of all, we were due to launch the PledgeManager with this month’s update, but there’s a few last minute hurdles we need to get through and so we’re pushing it back a few final weeks just to ensure all the is are dotted, and ts are crossed. We’ll now be launching this on Thursday 18th of April, in the late afternoon UK-time, to ensure that all team hands are on deck for the move into this next phase. 

We’ve got a bunch of FAQs ready for the launch, and we’ll have a PledgeManager-specific update to coincide with it going live where we’ll lay out everything as clearly as possible. We appreciate your patience on this.

Rather than hold back the PledgeManager-adjacent information to the new launch date, however, we’ll still share with you some of the new things that will be available!

In terms of new additions: you wanted more  ̶d̶u̶c̶k̶s̶ items? You’ve got them! We’ve got two new notebooks: one featuring lots of ineffable artwork from the graphic novel, and one featuring the much-loved ducks.

We’ve also got two new mugs: one for Tadfield visitors, and another for… duck lovers.

We’ve got a big sticker set bringing together lots of the art from this campaign. And, we’ve got a new enamel pin pair: these gorgeous Crowley and Aziraphale wings that together make a little love heart. You can either wear them both, or split them with your own best angel.

These will be available to purchase like the Aziraphale and Crowley pin pairs - not tied to the mystery packs.  

Tier updates

While some elements of the campaign are facing delays, other elements are hurtling forward at full velocity. Fans of the very cute, brace yourselves: here is Sarah Graley’s print for the loot box:

We’ve got some more map previews from Julien Labit, capturing Tadfield, heaven, hell, and many, many places in between:

And, we’re excited to unveil Alice Oseman’s Crowley illustrations for Loot Box #1, completing the pair alongside her Aziraphale sketches from when she watched Good Omens years ago:

On the add on front, here’s our Good Omens slipcase that can be added to pledges, to keep your graphic novels nice and  ̶a̶c̶c̶u̶r̶a̶t̶e̶ cosy:

We are quite into pins, you may have noticed. Here’s some more that will be available in the mystery packs:

Moving up to the Obsidian levels, here are some of the sample art pieces from William the Antichrist, illustrated by fantasy artist Mike Nash featuring Crawleigh, and the Citroen 2CV. We’re excited to see these new editions come to life:

Evolution of Eden

We thought it would be interesting to show the evolution of the graphic novel itself. We’ve found it glorious watching Colleen’s artwork arrive in each new stage, and so here’s a sample of the stages of Colleen’s first image, in the Garden of Eden, from pencil sketch, through ink, to the finished page:

And another, from its initial concept sketch, through to this celestial delight:

Lots happening, the lay of the year changing a little, but still full to the brim with Good Omens.

Until next time.

[garlicsoupweek]

TealOranges & Garlic Soup Week 2024!

Welcome to TealOranges & Garlic Soup Week 2024!! This prompt week is a celebration of all things Jim/Oluwande and Archie/Jim/Oluwande/Zheng. The week runs from June 23-29, 2024, with themes and prompts for each day. We are so pleased to announce the prompts for this week!

While this is TealOranges (Jim/Oluwande) and Garlic Soup Polycule (Archie/Jim/Oluwande/Zheng) week, we encourage and welcome any mix and match ships as well! Feel like writing Jim/Zheng? Go for it! Want to draw some Archie/Oluwande? We can't wait!

You are welcome and encouraged to use as many or as little of the prompts and themes as you feel like. We welcome any fan creations, including art, fic, fanvids or video edits, crafts, and anything else!

We hope you enjoy these prompts, and cannot wait to see everything that you create!!!

Information

Additional information and FAQ about the week can be found here!

Plain text for the slides can also be found here!

This year's Ao3 Collection can be found here!

If you have any questions about the prompts or the week, please feel free to drop us an ask!! Links to connect with the Garlic Soup Team can also be found in our bio, along with our Twitter and Linktree.

[Image description/plain text (copied from Alt Text): Four slides, each in shades of orange and featuring art of a steaming bowl of soup beside oranges and garlic. The soup bowl has orange blossoms on it. The slides read as follows:

TealOranges & Garlic Soup Prompt Week

Sunday June 23 - Saturday June 29

A celebration of all things Jim/Oluwande and Archie/Jim/Oluwande/Zheng!

Create - Write, draw, anything!

Share - Your favourite fics, art, and other fan creations!

#GarlicSoupWeek

Prompts

Sunday - Oranges Planting a garden | First Meetings/First Dates | Backstory exploration

Monday – Soup Making food together | Sick Fic | Acts of service

Tuesday – Found Family Meet the family | Soulmate AU | Friends to Lovers

Wednesday – Cursed Coat Curse Breaking | Fighting | Hurt/Comfort

Thursday – Fucked Up Room Situation Polycule negotiations | Only One Bed | Finding a new home

Friday - Garlic (NSFW) First time together | Group Sex | Exploring a new kink

Saturday - Dealer’s Choice Mix up the pairings! Try a new AU! Do what you want, babes!

Rules/Notes

You are welcome to use these prompts to create at any time after the week is over!

Any mix of Garlic Soup pairings welcome!

NSFW welcome for any prompt. Tag for warnings/NSFW. No underage NSFW please.

Tag @GarlicSoupWeek on Twitter and Tumblr so we can share your stuff!

Ao3 Collection: GarlicSoupWeek2024

End ID.]

[itshype]

My DC x DP Masterpost

Here is my masterpost of works that fall into the category of a crossover of DC comics and Danny Phantom. Mostly, these will be notfics. If any of the links are broken please message me ASAP. Edit: I will not be doing taglists because people are quite frankly abusing the idea.

What's a notfic?

So, this was really common in fandom like 10 years ago but it's less common now so I'm just including this quick explanation in case. Notfic/Not!Fic is the halfway point between an actual fic and a prompt. It mostly sort of has the tone of describing another fic to somebody, or working out an ongoing plot with a friend (e.g. Instead of writing out an entire set of dialogue, a notfic might just put "Jason and Tim discuss why they both want to fake their deaths").

Permissions Housekeeping

I totally don't mind if anyone wants to take all or part of what I've written for any prompt and write an actual fic or create another transformative work as long as I'm appropriately credited. If you're just taking the most oblique inspiration from something I've made I'd appreciate at least a tag so I can read it!

Also if you'd like to tag me in any of your works please do, provided that it's the first if it's in a series and not Jazz/Jason as the main pairing, please.

Works

Kingmaker, Kingbreaker, Crowntaker, Realmshaker

Danny isn't the Ghost King but after defeating Pariah Dark the new king knows Danny has massive political influence.

Navigate any storm, with nothing but the stars to guide you

Danny is obsessed with space so the whole 'superhero' thing is on the backburner.

Please don’t pet me! I am working!

Repeat after me, SERVICE ANIMAL CUJO. (Minor Connor Kent/Danny Fenton)

It's a boy, congratulations... to me!

Danny insists Connor is his clone even though he's really not.

Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss, Godhood

Danny gets caught and tells the JLA that neither he nor Vlad are ghosts.

New type of Vlad just dropped

When a ghost's obsession is destroyed, they get a new one.

Mother of the Year

Talia Al Ghul gets to be a good mother. As a treat.

Amorpho Whomst?

Danny, Dani and Dan trade off on responsibilities.

Halfa? Half a What?

Danny's half human, no one's sure what the other half is.

The second, secret Justice League

There's another Justice League that not even the Justice League is cleared to know about.

Excuse me, do you work here? Danny is sent to represent the first, non-secret Justice League.

Triple Threat

The Champion of All Magic and The King of All Ghosts have a mutual triplet.

Like peas in a pod [person]

Jason is healed of the pit rage but has a whole new problem.

There's a Mr Wight Hood to see you?

Jason adopts Danny instead of being the Red Hood.

The Wight Baby For The Job Sequel to Mr Wight Hood

You Make Miso Scared

Danny's always talking about soup time.

Reverse Bruce

Give baby Jason MORE PARENTS!

Work Experience

Danny has to learn about Ghost culture before he can rule it.

Mansplain Yourself

Constantine probably knows best about ghosts over the Justice League's newest member...

The Opposite of a Golden Ticket

International star Ember McLain is in danger

Haustoria Horror

Undergrowth's got Poison Ivy

Like and Survive!

Danny runs an advice website for young heroes

You're not the Boss of me!

Batman accidentally outs his family to Danny

This is a PSA

Danny's Wail affects the JLA

Floral Fiasco

Poison Ivy errs

How I Met Your Brother

Dan joins the JLA

The Manhunter's Manhunt

There's a miscommunication with the Martian Manhunter

The Green Knight

Jason lives (just this once)

___

The Job

Danny's gotta put food on the table (Also available in DP only version)

Always A King (DC x DP)

The Realms must have a king

Series: The Surprise Obsessions of the Ghostly Batclan (image heavy)

Ghost Bruce HC

Ghost Jason HC

Mini prompts

Danny Phantom vs The IRS ; part 2

Phantom's mistaken identity

Billy and Danny are secret twins

Danny scars the batfam

Superheroes need more therapy

All-caste Jason

Poison Control

[terribledactyl]

There’s a one-day strike going on at multiple Starbucks locations across the US over poor staffing today (Nov. 16)!

Image IDs:

1. Characters from the anime Maple Town Story standing happily outside with text that reads "Sbux Baristas in a world w/o Red Cup Day

2. Characters from the anime Maple Town Story baking cookies with text that reads "The store where Mills works typically brings in about $8,000 in sales each day but promotional events add at least an additional $3,000 in revenue, which amounts to a nearly 40% increase in business, Mills said."

3. Characters from the anime Maple Town Story looking tired with text that reads "Starbucks, however, leaves staffing levels unchanged on promotional days, leading to overworked employees and unsatisfied customers, Mills added."

4. Characters from the anime Maple Town Story tied up back-to-back with text that reads "Mills said their store unionized in August 2022 but Starbucks representatives have only attended one bargaining session, which they walked out of after 15 minutes. "Starbucks is promoting that it's bargaining in good faith but that's not what we're experiencing," Mills said."

5. Characters from the anime Maple Town Story handing each other a gift with text that reads "The strike can raise awareness and help boost union morale," he said. "To get a contract you need solidarity events that get the membership engaged and the community engaged."

6. Patty Rabbit from the anime Maple Town Story edited to have the Starbucks Workers United symbol on her apron with text that reads "Remember, Starbucks baristas are making massive and historic strides in unionizing, so try not to harass the striking workers! A win for the Starbucks union is a win towards the future of food service!"

[vickyvicarious]

But in Clerval I saw the image of my former self; he was inquisitive, and anxious to gain experience and instruction. The difference of manners which he observed was to him an inexhaustible source of instruction and amusement. He was for ever busy; and the only check to his enjoyments was my sorrowful and dejected mien.

1818

But in Clerval I saw the image of my former self; he was inquisitive, and anxious to gain experience and instruction. The difference of manners which he observed was to him an inexhaustible source of instruction and amusement. He was also pursuing an object he had long had in view. His design was to visit India, in the belief that he had in his knowledge of its various languages, and in the views he had taken of its society, the means of materially assisting the progress of European colonisation and trade. In Britain only could he further the execution of his plan. He was for ever busy; and the only check to his enjoyments was my sorrowful and dejected mien.

1831

Especially at the beginning, I wasn't collecting every difference between the two editions, so I don't remember if I have commented on this before or not. But Henry's more mercantile aspirations are something that has been happening throughout the 1831 edition, for example when he talked about why he wanted to go to school. And it was only in this passage that I made the connection to another altered career path: Ernest Frankenstein.

In 1818, Elizabeth advocates for Ernest to become a farmer, contrary to Alphonse suggesting he become an advocate/eventually a judge. In 1831, on the other hand, Ernest himself insists on being a soldier against the wishes of his father, but Elizabeth supports him since she thinks he'd just become an idler if his wishes weren't granted:

My uncle and I conversed a long time last night about what profession Ernest should follow. His constant illness when young has deprived him of the habits of application; and now that he enjoys good health, he is continually in the open air, climbing the hills, or rowing on the lake. I therefore proposed that he should be a farmer; which you know, Cousin, is a favourite scheme of mine. A farmer's is a very healthy happy life; and the least hurtful, or rather the most beneficial profession of any. My uncle had an idea of his being educated as an advocate, that through his interest he might become a judge. But, besides that he is not at all fitted for such an occupation, it is certainly more creditable to cultivate the earth for the sustenance of man, than to be the confidant, and sometimes the accomplice, of his vices; which is the profession of a lawyer. I said, that the employments of a prosperous farmer, if they were not a more honourable, they were at least a happier species of occupation than that of a judge, whose misfortune it was always to meddle with the dark side of human nature. My uncle smiled, and said, that I ought to be an advocate myself, which put an end to the conversation on that subject.

1818

How pleased you would be to mark the improvement of our Ernest! He is now sixteen, and full of activity and spirit. He is desirous to be a true Swiss, and to enter into foreign service; but we cannot part with him, at least until his elder brother return to us. My uncle is not pleased with the idea of a military career in a distant country; but Ernest never had your powers of application. He looks upon study as an odious fetter;—his time is spent in the open air, climbing the hills or rowing on the lake. I fear that he will become an idler, unless we yield the point, and permit him to enter on the profession which he has selected.

1831

There are a couple of ways this plays into existing themes, in both editions. In 1818, Ernest's future being debated between farmer and judge positions him as undecided between two options. First, the idealized smaller family lifestyle as viewed by Creature when he talks about the De Laceys farming their own food (despite them not being 'farmers' beyond necessity) or just in general the idea of harmony with the earth and not doing harm as Elizabeth says. Second, the arbiter or human conflicts, the embodiment of the justice system. We've seen how flawed that system is every time it's brought up, and Elizabeth seems to consider it almost a corrupting influence, to have to concern oneself with the dark side of human nature. More importantly though I think is the contrast between farming being presented as some individual bond with the land, versus advocate/judge being about human society. Setting aside how it's unlikely Ernest's station in life would ever allow him to be that particular kind of farmer (and also farming as a profession is hardly some idealized simple joy of nature), the contrast between outdoor/indoor, nature/civilization, physical labor/mental labor and so on are what's being played with here. Another notable detail is that Ernest isn't involved in this conversation at all; it's just two older relatives discussing his future and what they each think would suit him best (which happens to line up with their values).

In 1831, the options presented are more soldier or layabout (his father's ideal career for him is hinted at in the line about Ernest not liking to study, but not really expounded on). It's not about society/nature, it's about activity/indolence. And Ernest himself is more driven and more involved, contrasting the other version. Of course, he's still only 16, so it could well be that his eagerness to run off and join the army, while more outspoken, is no more mature than the lack of career planning we hear directly from him in the original, but just like 1831 Victor is more take-charge, so too is 1831 Ernest.

To bring it all back to this chapter and my original point... I find it quite interesting how 1818 Henry isn't described as being especially ambitious, more just wanting to learn because he enjoys it. He knows he is going to take over his father's business and is okay with that, but is more interested personally in poetry, romances, literature, society of great minds, etc. In 1831, Henry is not only expecting to inherit the business, but is actively making plans to expand and to use his learning to further his mercantile success.

Both Henry Clerval and Ernest Frankenstein follow a much more colonial career path in 1831. They seem to be representing something of the 'march of progress': they want to travel and leave their homeland with the specific aim of either fighting or trading to 'civilize' those foreign lands. As such, they want to serve Society on a larger scale, more institutionally than individually. This is in marked contrast to the singular Creature and the link to nature he represents... as well as in some ways Victor, who is often characterized by profound isolation (mental, emotional, physical...). It's interesting especially because in the original, both Henry and Ernest seem to be drawn more to the individual side of things, or at least not so interested in serving as cogs in any great machine. And then you could maybe even get into them both (and Victor) already having places ready for them within larger society and not caring as much about it, contrasting Creature's exclusion and his desperate desire to join humanity. Just a lot of interesting thoughts.

[eretzyisrael]

Good News From Israel

In the 18th Jun 23 edition of Israel’s good news, the highlights include:

An Israeli startup can train the brain to filter out chronic pain.

Children with psychological problems receive therapy from Israeli dolphins.

3 Israeli startups have independently developed solutions to cure insomnia.

It’s official - another major Israeli natural gas discovery.

Israel beat Korea to come 3rd in the Under 20 Soccer World Cup.

An Israeli kidney donor ran a marathon alongside the transplant recipient.

Read More: Good News From Israel

This week's theme is "together". Having just returned from celebrating together with my family, it was uplifting to read so many news articles of Israelis working together, and also with global partners. Ben Gurion Uni is working together with Israel's OncoHost on a cancer biosensor; Tel Aviv Uni has got together with UCLA to treat memory loss; Israel's BioNanoSim is marketing its eye disease treatments together with a Greek manufacturer; and the world's first AI chatbot for cancer patients is called "Beating Cancer Together" from Israel's Belong.Life. Yad Sarah volunteers have together saved Israel billions by providing ancillary medical services; the International Fellowship of Christians & Jews is celebrating 40 years of uniting Jews together with their homeland; for over 30 years, Israeli children have been receiving emotional therapy by swimming together with dolphins. And recently, a record 1,127 Birthright participants enjoyed Shabbat together at Jerusalem's Western Wall. Rarely publicized examples of "togetherness" include Jewish residents of Judea who frequently save the lives of their Palestinian Arab neighbors; the annual Veteran Games between injured UK and Israeli soldiers; and International legislators coming to Israel to strengthen bilateral ties. Israel and Japan have been connecting together at the Israel-Japan Conference in Tokyo; The latest stage of Israel's National Drone network is testing hundreds of commercial UAVs flying together; and Israel's Steakholder Foods and Singapore's Unami Meats are cultivating no-fish fish together. Finally, Israelis have attained some incredible teamwork achievements. The IDF's Special In Uniform Band just performed their 500th show together; Israel's Under 20 soccer team came 3rd in the World Cup; and two Israelis can be considered "joined at the hip" having just completed a unique marathon race together - one of them was a kidney donor, and the other was the recipient of her kidney. The photo is one single poster on the wall of the arrivals hallway at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International airport. The two images together show two of the multi-faceted sides of little Israel - busy innovating, while conserving and improving the environment.

[sparrowsfallingfromthesky]

[ID: First image: A screenshot of John Silver overlaid with a tumblr post by draconym, which is somewhat difficult to read. The name of OP's pet bird Ripley in the first sentence of the post has been edited to be Captain Flint, Silver's parrot in Treasure Island. Transcript of post: "The most vivid [Captain Flint] dream I’ve ever had was the one in which he had a job as a bank teller. I had to drive him to the bank near our house every day for his shift at work, where he had a little perch behind the counter, next to his computer. He was much more efficient than the other tellers and made a lot more money than they did, but his customer service was terrible, and his coworkers resented him for this. Sometimes he would ignore customers or rip up their checks, and this came out of his paycheck, but he was making so much money playing online poker during his breaks that it didn’t really make a difference. His bank account balance was more than enough to pay off our mortgage, but I didn’t want to pressure him into doing that because he’d earned the money himself and I didn’t want him to think I felt entitled to it. Halfway through the dream he also developed a superpower which allowed him to make anyone or anything disappear by saying “undo (thing).” He made all kinds of things disappear: his cage door, food he didn’t want, inconvenient customers. People started to fear him and he became known as “The Undue Bird.” The dream ended abruptly when I was picking him up from the bank and he said “undo Earth.”" Second image: Screenshot of Madi staring at Silver. /end ID.]

[zphotoeditservice]

Being one of the top providers of photo editing services, ZphotoEdit providing food photo retouching services at affordable prices. Removal of unwanted object · Photo resizing and cropping · Add natural shadows to elements in pictures and more..

[hagatha-christie]

September books, though at this point these posts are purely just for me

The bad:

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by TS Eliot - shocking amount of racial slurs for a children's book

Sovietistan by Erika Fatland - technically didn't finish this one. It's a shame because it was SO interesting and I enjoyed reading about Central Asia bc I know nothing, but Fatland is so rude about every single local she comes into contact with. Constant descriptions of bad teeth, people's weight, how nasty the food was, and how backwards the attitudes were. I get it's kind of a strange/unique region but it was gross to me that her narration, apart from when she discussed history of the region, was very much "wow look how weird and exotic these people are! I'm so glad I live in Norway where it's CLEAN and people aren't WEIRD." Only made it through the Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan chapters which is a shame bc this could've been great if she was just not an asshole!!!!

The okay:

Uncharted by Alli Temple - was truly expecting nothing from this Kindle Unlimited pirate adventure-romance series with a stock image cover but it was actually not bad? Fun, pulp-y plot and I finished it in about 5 hours

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner - a serviceable romcom about two soccer players who fall in love. I read Wilsner's other books (one was fine and one I hated) so I feel like saying this is my favorite isn't saying much, but it was cute.

The Lost Spells by Robert MacFarlane - the draw here isn't so much the poems (but they're fine!), it's the beautiful watercolors

The good/great:

spellbook for the sabbath queen by Elisheva Fox - a really beautiful but sparse poetry collection that has stuff about identity and environment and difficult familial relationships and sexuality and Judaism. This is her first collection and it definitely feels like one, but not in a bad way. I'll def keep an eye out for more of her stuff

Ararat by Christopher Golden - a recommendation from a friend and it had some GNARLY kills but was another book that was very much My Shit. Also had a great ending

American Journal: Fifty Poems For Our Time, edited by Tracy K. Smith - a really great poetry collection especially if you're just getting into poetry and are looking for new poets. There's enough variety that there's something for everyone in there!

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen - these poems were so fucking weird that i was immediately in love. Idk what else to say other than "strange and lovely"

Rouge by Mona Awad - speaking of strange! If you're into skincare this is especially fun, I'm glad I got a facial BEFORE reading this because otherwise I would have been mildly unsettled. I love that thing Awad does when the character starts to lose it and the narration goes off the rails

Bestiary by Donika Kelly - I mean this in the best possible way, what the FUCK. "You grow. You are large./You are a 19th century poem." but also "I have never known a field as wild/as your heart." Hey Donika what if I throw up everywhere

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker-Chan - some great characters and also a couple of plot points that were so upsetting i started laughing and then had to put the book down for the night because it was the most tragic possible thing to happen. (almost) every single character in this book is a total asshole and I love them all!!!!!!!! Maybe not technically "great" but one of those books that felt like it was written just for me.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros - an all time favorite I reread because I was sad. Sandra Cisneros is one of those writers that makes me feel incredibly seen and I was having a bad day so I read this in one sitting and it helped a little

[miyasmagnolias]

𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 ⌨

kenma kozume x f!reader

editing video tutorials for a urinalysis company wasn't exactly your dream job. luckily, your former coworker has a solution involving a certain youtube sensation.

"The background music feels a little…corporate, don't you think?" your supervisor asked, clicking the space bar to pause the video. Your desktop screen froze on the image of a lab technician placing a dipstick into a cup of urine, and — though you'd eaten lunch at your desk several times before — your appetite was suddenly gone.

"It's a tutorial for an at-home urinalysis test kit," you said matter-of-factly, pushing your blue-light glasses to rest on the crown of your head. "It doesn't exactly call for an award-winning soundtrack."

"I know, but we want our customers to really feel as though our test kits are an experience — something they can't get from any other place on Earth!"

Your supervisor talked about urinalysis test kits like most people did a trip to Disney World. With a sigh, you said, "I guess I could toss in some lo-fi music. That's trendy nowadays, right?"

"Now that's what I'm talking about," your supervisor said, standing from your desk chair and giving you a big thumbs-up. "Keep making creative decisions like that, Y/N, and you'll be promoted to senior videographer in no time!"

"Wow," Kuroo drawled when you later told him about the positively glowing feedback you'd received. He took a swig of his beer and gave you that classic, shit-eating grin before saying, "I guess you could say urine the big leagues now, huh?"

"Don't mock me," you said miserably, raising your empty glass towards the bartender for a refill. "When I left my videography internship at the JVA, I really thought I was going on to do bigger, better things. Instead, I'm writing captions on how to pee in a cup and color-correcting b-roll footage of urine samples. Did you know that pee could be amber? My pee has never been that dark!"

Eyes trained on the little beer he had left, Kuroo made a face and gently set his glass down on the bar top. "So it isn't the job of your dreams. That's okay. You'll use it to get a leg up somewhere else!"

"Easy for you to say. Your department loves you. They'll probably have you running meetings before the end of the year."

A valued employee of the Japan Volleyball Association, Kuroo had essentially turned his economy supply services internship into a full-time job within months of being recruited. You'd met him on a commercial video shoot featuring several of Japan's leading volleyball players — many of whom Kuroo had contacted personally to partake in the project. His passion for volleyball and unprecedented networking skills made him instantly likeable among the higher-ups, and though you were interning for different departments at the time, you became friends within a matter of minutes.

"How do you know all of these people?" you asked Kuroo the day of the shoot, still in awe from the handshake you'd just exchanged with Hinata Shoyo from the MSBY Black Jackals.

"Who — Chibi-chan?" Kuroo asked, jutting his chin towards the athlete who'd ambled over to the craft services table. "I played him back in high school."

You wondered what other kinds of insane connections Kuroo had. Knowing him, he probably had the Prime Minister on speed-dial.

"Speaking of meetings," Kuroo started, plucking a wasabi octopus off of the plate sitting in between you. "I want you to schedule coffee with a friend of mine sometime next week."

"Oh, no," you said behind a mouthful of food, raising a finger towards your former coworker in protest. "Look, I know you've been trying to set me up with your high school best friend for forever now — but I've told you, I don't need any romantic charity."

"Don't worry, I'm not trying to set you up on a blind date with Kenma," Kuroo chuckled. His words did nothing to erase the growing suspicion on your face. "My friend Kodzuken is looking for a full-time video editor for his YouTube channel, and I thought I'd put in a good word for you."

"Kodzuken?" you asked, nearly choking on your octopus. You'd never personally watched any of his YouTube videos or Twitch streams, but you always saw his screen name pop up on the top of the Twitter trending page. "You want me to become a full-time video editor for a wealthy influencer?"

"I wouldn't call him an wealthy influencer — that's like, the least interesting part of his personality," Kuroo said. "He's been swamped doing all of the video editing by himself, and I remembered the videos you made while we were both JVA interns. I think you could do it."

"God..." you breathed, looking your former coworker and friend in the eye. You could tell he had something mischievous up his sleeve the moment you sat down for dinner. "How are you even friends with someone who has that many followers on social media?"

Kuroo merely shrugged as he raised his glass to his lips. "We went to high school together."

"Of course you did."

"So, you'll do it?"

"...I don't know," you said truthfully, wringing your fingers in a nervous twitch. Ever since graduating college and starting your full-time job, you had trouble keeping up with what was popular nowadays. Sure, you enjoyed decorating your Animal Crossing island on the weekends and sneaking in quests on Gensin Impact during your lunch break. But editing for a YouTube channel with millions of followers? How did you know that your editing style wasn't completely out of touch with what Kodzuken was looking for? Wouldn't he prefer one of his avid followers edit his videos instead?

Upon seeing the doubt clouding your expression, Kuroo said, "Trust me, it's better that you're not a fan. If anything, it'll make things more organic between the two of you."

"I suppose," you mused, plucking the last of the wasabi octopus from the plate and popping it into your mouth. "You really think I could impress someone like him?"

Something glimmered in those eyes of his, but all Kuroo said was, "You better. Unless you want to edit urinalysis videos for the rest of your life."

Kuroo's words resounded in your brain as you sat at the coffee shop just down the block of your office the following week, adjusting the skirt of your lucky interview outfit and watching the door in an anxious anticipation. You'd taken the past few days to spruce up your creative portfolio and binge watch Kodzuken's YouTube videos, hours of Twitch stream highlights, trendy challenges, and meme reviews swimming in your brain.

He edited all of this himself? you'd thought in disbelief. No wonder he was in need of an editor; the man must've been burnt out.

The door jingled not a moment later, and you lifted your head to see Kodzuken pushing his two-toned hair back with a pair of sunglasses, perching them on the crown of his head before scanning the café and meeting your eye. He donned a hoodie and sweatpants as he did for most of his videos — and though you'd watched him through your computer screen for the past week, there was something inherently different about seeing him in the flesh. There was something softer about his demeanor. More approachable.

"Kodzuken? Hi! I'm Y/N — it's so nice to finally meet you," you said by way of greeting, extending your hand out as he approached. An easygoing, if not slightly confused smile bloomed across his features upon hearing your name.

"Nice to finally meet you, too," he said, an amused breath escaping his lips as he shook your hand. "Though, I find it a little embarrassing when people call me that in real life. My actual name is Kenma. Kenma Kozume."

You froze, your hand still intertwined in his as the syllables rolled off of his tongue and into the space between you. You tilted your head slightly as the puzzle pieces clicked into place. Kenma.

Kenma Kozume.

The same man Kuroo had been trying to set you up with for ages.

Realization dawned on both of your faces as you exclaimed, "Wait — you're Kuroo's best friend from high school?"

"You're the JVA co-worker he keeps telling me about?" Kenma volleyed back in response. You both became acutely aware of the fact that you were still holding hands. Pulling back, Kenma rubbed the back of his neck, hints of pink beginning to color his cheeks as he said, "Ah, I'm sorry about this. I had no idea. When Kuroo told me I had an interview scheduled for a potential video editor, I didn't think it'd be..."

He trailed off, the sight of you in your pencil skirt and blouse making his face go from pink to red a whole lot faster. Kuroo was right; you were pretty.

Meanwhile, your thoughts were racing a mile per minute as you tried to recontextualize the entire person that was Kenma Kozume. When Kuroo first proposed the idea of going on a blind date with his best friend, you'd brushed off the idea without a second thought. But now that you'd actually seen him — what with his nervous smile and tired eyes and perfectly placed set of dimples...

Kuroo's words sprung forth from your memory. "I wouldn't call him a wealthy influencer — that's like, the least interesting part of his personality."

You suddenly realized that you had been staring at Kenma for far longer than necessary. Eyes retreating to the floor, you tucked a strand of hair behind you ear and muttered, "I am so going to kill Kuroo for this."

"You and me both," Kenma chuckled in response. He jerked his thumb towards the counter of the coffee shop. "Would you maybe want to plot our revenge over a cup of coffee? We can look over your video portfolio while we're at it."

Grateful for the change of pace, you both ordered your drinks and settled into a booth in the back corner, passing your iPad back and forth as you showed Kenma the videos you'd produced for your college thesis and JVA internship. You found him laughing at the informal interviews you'd edited for the MSBY Black Jackals, and you explained how certain editing choices could be used to enhance the comedic effect of a joke — a zoom-in here, a green-screen effect there.

"You can even use graphic overlays and keyframing to — " you stopped short, suddenly realizing how much you'd been talking. Kenma merely listened to you from across the table, a small smile having formed at the corners of his lips as you said, "I'm rambling too much, aren't I?"

"Not at all," Kenma replied in earnest. "It sounds like you really enjoy what you do."

"I do," you reassured him, glancing down into your coffee cup. "I currently make tutorials for a healthcare diagnostic company — which basically means I edit videos explaining all the ways you can pee on a stick. It's a stable job, and it pays well, but..."

"It's not exactly your passion?" Kenma answered. You nodded amusedly. "That's kinda how I feel about editing in general. I mean, I love streaming and filming videos, but editing has never been my strong suit. Plus, I don't like staring at my face for hours on end."

"Well, that wouldn't be a problem for me," you answered quickly, a blush creeping onto your face as soon as you realized what you had just said. "I just meant that, you know, since — "

"It's okay," Kenma said, the humored expression in his eyes enough make your face grow even warmer. "I mean, I would hope you'd prefer to look at me over some fake pee on a stick." His brow suddenly furrowed in distaste. "It is fake pee, right?"

His question caught you so off-guard, you began to laugh — Kenma's smile only deepening as you did so. And when you both settled into a comfortable silence, he lifted his coffee cup to his lips and asked:

"So, when can you start?"

Your jaw went slack at how forward he was. No call-backs? No grueling technical rounds? Was he absolutely sure about this?

"I-I mean, as soon as you'd like me to," you responded, straightening your back and folding your hands across the table. "Do you have a video project in mind?"

"Well, I already finished editing this week's video, and I was planning on filming an unboxing video this week..." Kenma set his empty coffee cup on its saucer and scrunched his face in thought. "But since we both intend to get back at a certain mutual friend of ours, I think I have a better idea."

Two weeks later, Kuroo received a notification from you with a link to Kodzuken's newest YouTube video. Titled "Best Friend Destroyed by Fire Noodle Challenge," the thumbnail featured Kuroo sporting a swollen tongue and bloodshot eyes while Kenma sat next to him, completely unbothered. Below the video, a text message appeared:

Payback for the set-up — and a thank-you for the new job.

Kuroo burst into laughter.

©miyasmagnolias, 2022

[rray-gunn]

Friends at the Table: PALISADE NOTES Ep 3: Conflict Turn session 1

EDIT: tumblr’s bullet point formatting is absolute ass, so here’s a link to my cohost where you can view the exact same post but, uh, prettier to read. If anyone has tips for formatting bullet points in tumblr lmk.

SPOILERS UNDER THE READMORE!

*Note: I take these notes as I listen, so they’re kind of a chronological reading guide to help me as I re-listen. I hope I got everything correct, but there will inevitably be mistakes with my spelling and comprehension of events that happen in these episodes. PLEASE feel free to let me know if I missed or misinterpreted anything. These notes are to help me and others make sense of the really dense and lore-heavy conflict turn episodes, so it’s important to me that I’m as accurate as I can be. I’m posting these notes on my tumblr and cohost. If you can think of anything that would be helpful for future notes posts, such as timestamps, links, fanart images, etc, please let me know. -Ray*

Jack’s faction:

Division:

The Curtain (Stel Kesh) as Bilateral Intelligence Services. Formerly called the Curtain, the BIS is a Kesh-operated organization which specializes in espionage, subterfuge, and surveillance. Though it is as secretive as ever, it is no longer the true source of power in Kesh territory. Instead, Cynosure Whitestar-Kesh has modernized its structure and operation, and has ensured that it remains well integrated into the Bilateral Intercession’s greater workings—as to better keep one eye on them.

Major division

Type: Subterfuge (deploying spies or agents to deal with things covertly)

3 pillars:

1) Diadem Grav Train

Kesh has reactivated this railway via an operation center in Carmathen.

It can circumnavigate the planet

Very scary and fast

2) Stargrave Elcessor

Ensures Kesh’s primacy.

Woman from Kesh, collects vintage cameras, went to military school

3) The Paint Shop

Elaborate castle on the tallest peak, taken over & added on to

Anor Londo but if it was a bohemian artist’s commune full of spies

This is the most Cold War-esque shit ever JDQ I love you so much

Imagine Warhol-esque parties where people do performance art by splashing paint on an object and several floors below there’s a guy sitting in a room wearing headphones listening to everyone

After Palisade:

Peaceful Princept reconfigured the curtain into this current form

A modern organization for a new time. It’s the CIA.

Have deployed on Palisade

Seek to control/control the following:

Carleon-Upon-Whisk, Carmathen, Steeple Cateric (headquarters), Tintagel (military base),

Stargrave: a senior kesh military executive such as an admiral

They have the “authority” to destroy the nearest star, akin to US nuclear launch codes.

Leader is the Princept

Stargrave reports up to them

Kesh:

The oldest established power in the galaxy, built around a stuffy (and secretive) aristocracy. They are tied to the Past. History, knowledge, stubbornness.

Art’s faction:

Division:

Stel Nideo as the Divine Crusade. Leads Stel Nideo’s occupation on Palisade along with their Elect, Gentian. Crusade is an enormous, bipedal machine covered (or perhaps made with) beautiful stained glass.

Minor division

Type: Curator (stealing that which doesn’t belong to them whoops all British)

3 pillars:

1) New Asterism

Settler colonial project intent on taking over and replacing the populace culture of Palisade

Fake Gur Sevraq: “cultivate saplings” it’s a very manifest destiny vibe, a very “tame the wild west” vibe, very “these people weren’t doing this right and we are going to cultivate this land

2) Bontive Valley

Blessed by the Divine Bounty, a heartland that provides highly nutritional grain, etc

This is where you’ll find Crusade walking around trying to make people associate them with providing food rather than knives

Also its close to Carleon-Upon-Whisk and therefore close to Kesh and the Fab Duchy

Also very near one of the big conflict fronts

3) The Divine Resonance

Watchful guardian and caregiver/supporter of the Nidean colonial project on Palisade

It’s everywhere. It’s a surveillance system. Everyone knows it’s there and is touted as a parental, protective Alexa

The state protects and attends to its settlers.

It also is monitoring for “terrorists” and Millennium Break.

The Divine Crusade

Giant stained glass figure

Beautiful, terrible, made with Independence tech from TM (Twilight Mirage)

Nideo:

Created the largest faith in the empire, and used that influence to shape (and surveil) mass culture. They are tied to the Present. Faith, coercion, stability.

Control the following:

Temple of the threshold (home of new asterism and its false prophet),

Aram’s Gate

City City

A fever dream. City is a verb. City is a noun. City is an adjective. We are city. We city.

A joint project btwn Nideo and the Frontier Syndicate. The output of something in Baseline (the data town)

Austin’s faction

Division:

The Frontier Syndicate as the March Institute

Minor division

Type: research (developing new Enchantments ™ and Rituals ™ )

3 pillars:

1) Lone Marble Group

Builds BiLat war machinery

Based around one artifact recovered from an advent facility, in southeast Greenfield

AKA THE FUCKING MARBLE FROM TM

2) Divine Arbitrage

The amoral machine turned de facto treasurer

Operates out of Braunton

Runs commerce, everyone’s favorite capitalism algorithm

Currency: Glint

3) Composure’s Colosseum

 Operated by a revived Divine that instrumentalizes data from fucked up sports aka gladiator fights babyeeee

How can fucked up bloodthirsty sports give us #bigdata???

Frontier Syndicate:

A powerful conglomerate with a broad purview, including technology, heavy industry, entertainment, telecommunications, and transportation. Led by Exenceaster March (he/him), the Syndicate betrayed the Pact of Free States and joined the Bilats in order to be part of their colonization efforts on Palisade.

Founded/led by Exenceaster March

He’s an entrepreneur that left the Pact of Necessary Venture (aka now the Pact of Free States) to join the Bilateral Intercession

 (see Downstairs episodes in Road to Palisade)

Made up of many subsidiaries such as:

The March Institute (the leading subsidiary)

It’s a bunch of different companies that make up one super-company

Think same structure as ancient OriCon from Counter/WEIGHT

It’s a bit of Columnar, a little bit of Orion,

Pioneering new styles of technological military and social exploitation

Kinda concerned with the future. Think AI shit, chatgpt, etc and the kinds of problems from big tech companies. Elon Musk loooooves the Frontier Syndicate.

Comprises: Most of shale belt mineral highlands by Braunton, Baseline (the fucked up data town, like an atomic doom town, where people get to live there for free so long as they sign away their rights to informed consent and they get experimented on for #bigdata)

Misc Divisions (parts of the Cause, AKA MB)

Jade Kill

A military camp.

Based in Joyous Guard, former Fab Duchy city (see Wagon Wheel game)

Leader: August Righteousness, revolutionary chef who executed a crusader king’s plot

captured the ex-leader of the Fab Duchy, who is upset at how the Stargrave runs things now

Military arm of the cause

Operated by Kalar’s Giant Killer unit

and a wing of Swordbreakers

Violet Cove

A strange type of faction dealing with weird and unexplained

A bunch of weirdos and oddballs.

The Dim Liturgy (cult) and the Divine Devotion (cult)

Dim Liturgy: a cult whos sacred text is the battered and corrupted backup of Crystal Palace’s final predictions for the future.

They predicted that they would sign up with Devotion. And so they signed up with Devotion.

Just two bestie cults working together against the BiLats!

Grey Pond

With members of the Oxblood Clan, the Company of the Spade, and the Shale Belt's Concrete Front, these blue collar revolutionaries are experts at getting the Cause the equipment it needs (and maintaining what it has when that's the only available option).

Supplier type

New equipment and supplies

Based in Sinder Karst (like the Sierra Madres- sometimes insurgents go into the hills because hills are good for hiding insurgents.)

They’ve taken the top bit of the Frontier Syndicate’s territory in the Shale Belt.

Carmine Bight

From ramshackle additions to the rocky shores of Rifle Island, Captain Skelton Knaggs (he/him) and his fearsome flotilla launch rusted pirate vessels beneath the waves, guided by a coalition of Hyphan navigators.

Submarine pirates!

Type: adventurers. Bold action and unpredictable actions.

Long descendants of the Lineage Brighton, etc.

Rose River

Though they are undoubtedly committed to the Cause, this unique research unit (combining Veronique (she/her), her Divine Fealty (any pronouns), and their followers with an out-of-time NEH Sleep Detachment squad) hope for a day when they can be something other than soldiers.

(see first ep of Road to Palisade: On their way to the gates of the TM, Fealty and Veronique found an old NEH sleep detachment ship that needed help, and whoops ANOTHER CULT FORMED

Based in New Oath

Oh cool, another Divine kneeling over a town……

Melancholy war story vibe. Touchstone is “thin red line,” a WWII film that, dreamlike, builds and overwhelms into an outbreak of violence.

When we last saw Veronique, her cockpit was filling with the colors of the TM, and all of the sleep detachment people have awoken from a long, long sleep- remember how Morning’s Observation felt? It’s very dreamlike.

The people who were in there were actually in the episode descriptions for some TM episodes: Lani and Tee (frank ocean and tyler the creator as college kids) that were going to school- there’s lecture notes- and got in a pod and got shot through space and woke up thousands of years later and woke up and the war that they didn’t have any strong feelings about- it was just a job, easy money- the war was over, and replaced by a different war that they are immediately caught up in. So yeah that’s the vibe

Wayward factions:

The Crown of Glass

The domain of the Witch in Glass

 largest non-BiLat city on the planet

has assets from the principality and palisade itself

type: bandits. Robbery and sabotage.

The Afflictions

Type: despoilers

Ravel

A massive brain neuron traveling the hills and valleys

Refrain

An abandoned theater which appears as if from nowhere, with the projection of a person on the stage

Cleave

The dragon made of knives is this one’s minion

Scary beast

Dust

“what if a mummy could be a mech?”

Oversight

Slowly moving statue whose faces are always fluctuating under a shroud

The Pact of Free States

***********

NOW THE CONFLICT STARTS BAYBEEEE

Note: Grip = HP

Recapping which factions are controlled by which players-

JDQ: Bilateral Intelligence Service, Rose River, Carmine Bight

AMT: Stel Nideo, Violet Cove, Crown of Glass

AW: Frontier Syndicate, Jade Kill, Grey Pond, the Afflictions

 Bilateral Intelligence Service’s turn

Passive ability: Every turn, place 1 grip on a faction or pillar of your choice

Divisions want to gain authority on factions/pillars

Places 1 grip on the Violet Cove.

A spy is sent:

Marlon Styx, big eyebrows, pious stern bald man pulls up on a rowboat.

A champagne bottle opens. An artist is painting something gaudy. We travel down the floors of The Paint Shop, past an art party, past a security guard, past an office with people sketching on a wall, deeper into the bowels of the castle where someone’s working on art in a production room, painting stripes on horse armor, further down until we get to a 70’s British conference room with an overhead projector. The presenter is sent to replace the director of this operation.

Interference: Violet Cove interferes (namely the Dim Liturgy, the ones that follow the predictive engine of Crystal Palace)

Someone reads in a book about the spy being sent. They see how the events unfold.

Fool Factotum, a junior agent in the BIS, in a simple grey skirt and jacket, a little hat, pale and short wavy brown hair, cold grey eyes, thin gaunt features, either 27 or 47, you cannot tell. She/her. She’s among a group of 14-15 people.

It’s year 1429 of the Perfect Millennium. The lights go down, and a man stands from the front row. He’s totally unremarkable looking- you wouldn’t be able to describe his features an hour later, totally generic. He looks like George Smiley. He thanks the previous director for their work in setting up this operation in this building. He gestures to the screen and it shows “adagio in G.”

Summary: “My name is Ryar Conidine. I’ve spent most of my career in the BIS. I specialized in psychological operations and folklore. Did service, became a teacher, and now the Princept has ordered me to join the service again. A brief history lesson: For basically ever, Kesh has been a principality of spies. Understatement. 5000 years ago, our predecessors started a psychological operation. Using the future-seeing power of an oracle engine, they generated 100,000s of near perfect predictions. They were made in a loop, and over 2000 years, actors played out these predictions and made sure they would happen. I have been sent to Palisade to bring the planet on the cycle. The machine has been lost, but Kesh understands that we must adapt. Workshops are being constructed. Prop makers are assembling quite the paint shop. We are distributing predictions. A star will fall, and our ships are in position to shoot down the satellite. Our alliance with the Fab Duchy. They pass down their predecessors in liquid inside glass bodies. We are infiltrating them and making one of them into a puppet, so their entire people think it’s all normal. We are making the planet go into a dance. Any questions?”

People are confused and awestruck. One says “sir, what does this have to do with intelligence?” “Control of all kinds is intensely useful.”

Fool Factotum: “we don’t have eyes in a number of places. How will we get those people in costume?” aka pointing out blind spots. Answer: “we know this won’t be easy. I’ve been assured of mutual cooperation with March.”

In the texts back at Violet Cove: The outcome is predicted- It’s arrogance. Being in the war college is not the same as being in the war.

NEVERMIND REROLL IT, SAYS AUSTIN!

Somewhere on the island of the broken key, a devotion cultist, says “the game’s on!” and they turn on their TV, helping Composure’s Coliseum collect data.  Welcome to GPT style generated content.

2 major sports on Palisade: basketball and basically bloodbowl but with mechs

This does not reflect in the Dim Liturgy’s book. This is one of the ways that the book is broken. The book itself is weird Nostradamus junk: vague and weird.

So basically they’re going to do this psyop with sports.

There begins to be leaks. “Did you hear that this was predicted?” “no it wasn’t, you buffoon”

There’s a spy both ways: one in steeple cateric, one in Violet Cove. The monks saw there was an opportunity to put someone in. They’ve swapped spies lol

Marlon is the spy working for Violet Cove (doing both sides)

Outcome:

Do they do the plan? Yes.

Who benefits the most? BIS.

Recap as explained by Austin in Ep4: It’s festival season! There’s been a lot of community outreach from…. Somewhere??? (this represents a new plan deployed by Stel Kesh via the Paint Shop: they are putting the planet on cycle. The BIS’s new plan, called Adagio in G. (From TM, the principality of Kesh used to be “on cycle”. Their entire lives were scripted. If you deviated, you were inducted into the rapid evening and shipped off to the edge of the principality where you could defend everybody on the interior remaining on cycle.) Here, on Palisade, Kesh thinks it would be cool to do that again. Except they don’t have the predictive engine Crystal Palace (aka Divine Past) anymore so it’ll be more difficult. But they’re doing this by making people participate in local harvest plays, getting more involved in sports, etc. Dressing up and putting on plays. One such thing: They decided that a woman on a white horse would show up. This is easy to do. They have infiltrated the Fabreal Duchy and got a horse of the right color, and a new long-lost duchess of folklore showed up. Like people claiming to be descendants of the long lost Russian royalty, like the fake Anastasia. This prediction was made by either/both the remains of Crystal Palace, or people in the Paint Shop.

   Stel Nideo’s turn

Passive ability: start or advance a 4-part clock titled “take something that’s not yours”

Scene: Discourse.

Gentian (the elect of Crusade) is holding a reception at the foot of Crusade. She is impossibly old. She has four attendants. She is wearing an embroidered robe. The reception has little sandwiches.

Two swordbearers (for a Soul Edge-esque sword that can be split in two: Ramondra sh/sh and Ignadiah h/h)

One who holds a ceremonial big cup cut from one giant emerald (Pereval th/th)

One who holds a big book of crusades. (Clawed, 6’5”, muscular, the book is super heavy for him. h/h)

If Gentian dies, one of these four will be the next elect of Crusade.

In Dark Souls, you would fight them separately except the swordbearers would be one boss fight. They are rivals.

Pereval opens the ceremony, holding the cup in both hands. “welcome to the Bontive Valley. Eat our food and bask in the warm light of crusade.” There are people sitting on blankets, there are columnar, Fab Duchy, etc. Ramondra makes a subtly snide remark at Pereval. Clawed talks flippantly about their duties. “Isn’t there more important work to be doing right now?” Gentian, who is supernatural in her speed, leaves another conversation and interrupts Clawed, who persists and doubles down that this reception is not as important as, say, fighting the Concrete Front. She explains how the project of Crusade is about fighting, sure, but this is equally important: there’s a lot of diplomats and important inventors/sympathists here and this is one of the ways we win the war.

Kenneth Marion Culver, the viceroy of Kesh on Palisade who works underneath the Stargrave (famously quoted: “you can’t colonize your own home!”) comes over to try to pull Gentian away. This is the person who gets sent out to talk to people. “Your excellency, we need to talk about these bread rates.” He is an unctuous person demanding cheaper bread prices. “It’s so important, I agree,” says Gentian, “but I am busy.” Culver remarks that “the Stargrave will take notice” and Gentian, annoyed, makes Pereval discuss the bread. No one at all from Crusade gives two shits about bread taxes. They’re from the place where the bread is free. But this is also about how Culver wants *Bontive* bread. It’s almost a holy thing. Otherwise they would be going to Arbitrage.

A Baroque chamber ensemble plays. Ramondra and Ignadiah flirt: they’re both trying to be the most interesting person at the function. One was invited to hunt quail with the duke. The other was invited to hunt boar. How boar-ish, one remarks. They keep this up.

A new duke arrives on a horse. This was predicted. Perpetual Luster, the Duke of Glass, was kidnapped and is being held at Joyous Guard. But now a new duke arrives. A Fab Duchy duke: Constantina Malady. (So they have a new Duke now??? They replaced the old one?? Oooooo) They arrive with a gift for Gentian, with a train of delegates in tow. She makes a show of announcing that she has returned from travel and welcomes her people “from the stars.” She’s ornate, made of glass, with a cool toga thing. The gift is in a large trunk, and Gentian grins as she sees what’s inside.

Frontier Syndicate’s turn

Passive ability: The director may force a re-roll every scene.

Scene: a chase.

We go back to the events of the previous episode. The Blue Channel crew is getting on the ship with their new comrades, the two Twill and Partial Palisade, in the Fundament Node. We see it from afar, as if from a digital pair of binoculars, zoomed in, with a living watercolor effect on the zoomed in version.

Members of the authority attack on this place from the table siege tower mech that shot out people- those people got out in the weirdly lit green valley in the bottom of the diadem.

This person is trying to get away and they go to their pickup line but it’s the grav train and it isn’t working right now! Thanks blue channel.

There’s a group that is a subsidiary of the Frontier Syndicate called Locke & Cross security services, who are two divorced columnar women too committed to the cause to actually separate the business, and this is Margate Locke, retreating. Her crew didn’t make it, but she has the information, she saw it with her painting goggles. She’s trying to get away to any major BiLat location for a pickup. Who is chasing her?

There’s a fully stocked library from 5000 years ago, deep underground in the Diadem, this fully ready city that no one ever moved into.

Someone is lying on their back in a pile of papers. They pick up the papers and read them over their head, shining a flashlight held in their mouth on the papers. This is Candle’s Penumbra. She has long blond hair that’s getting filled with dust. Her walkie talkie blips up on a shelf and it falls and hits an old tape projector. A video about the Diadem clicks on, volume off, but the clicking and whirring of the tape persists. Gucci Garunteen’s voice comes through. “Rose River agent, this is Watershed. Come in.”

Candle’s puts her hand between the projector and the wall, watching the dust motes catch in the light. “Yes?” There’s a loose end she needs to tie up. Coordinates are given. “Huh. Okay.”

Candle’s leads Locke into a trap. There are parks and homes and shops around. This was a supermall that was supposed to be a place to live in. There was supposed to be a bridal shop here, and it shows three mannequins with decaying dresses. In the back, sheets of white silk and velvet and chiffon hang from the ceiling, in endless rows. Locke is led into this maze of white fabric. Margate Locke is white, like a porcelain figure. Her individual plates are either unpainted or pristine. There, among the white sheets, she is led into a trap. An ancient AI projection of a ghost tailor and a ghost bride turn on, perfect and heteronormative, going from fitting for the dress to kissing the groom at the wedding, and sanding in the background of the wall of the dress fitting is Candle’s Penumbra, projection flitting across her, and as the scene changes to the happy couples faces turning in to profile to kiss, her face is between them staring forward, jarring. She draws a weapon. It’s a flail.

Sparks bounce off Locke’s porcelain body as this blond woman with dusty hair lays into her. One of Locke’s plates on her plated arm shatters like glass. She lifts her other arm and smashes the inner glass as a way to launch the shrapnel into Candle’s face. She makes a run for it.

The camera goes into super slow motion. The frame rate is bad. The projector is still going, catching the shattered glass. Candle’s tackles Locke. They fall from the balcony on back of the bridal shop into the back of another shop, a floor below.

Margate Locke is not unprepared. Candle’s stands up, and they see Locke, 8 times, as 8 Margates begin clone jutsu. Candle’s goes for one of them immediately, caught in the dusty mania of the chase. They go over a bridge.

The bridge breaks. It shatters. Candle’s falls and grabs Locke’s belt. Somehow Locke wins this thing.

You thought you won but you didn’t- Locke’s body breaks the fall and the panels shatter, exposing the standard columnar body. Last minute, Locke gets one bar of signal and sends back the data she has about the little Twill village, in the fundament node, the person/figure that left, the members of the blue channel. In doing that, Locke has her back turned to Candle’s. We see the flail.

A clock is started: Harvest the Fundament Nodes.

Fundament Nodes are tied to something ancient in Palisade (meaning the corpse of the Divine Palisade)

(definition: things deep in the belly of the planet that lets you control huge parts of what the planet is/does)

*****

If you read this far, thanks! Again, please feel free to let me know if I need to correct any mistakes. The Adagio in G plan was particularly dense for me. I had to listen to it a few times to figure out what was happening exactly. These notes are mostly for me, so they’re formatted in my preferred style (bullet points), which I know can be a bit much for some people so bear with me. I’m also going to post the maps with some small annotations I did but I’ll do that in a different post as this one is long enough. Bye! -Ray

[horrorvalegame]

January & February 2023 Progress Reports

Oh, hey!

Turns out we totally forgot to post January's progress report over here on Tumblr!

We won't share the whole thing here, but if you're interested in reading it and catching up, here's a link to the January 2023 Progress Report over on our Patreon (free to read):

https://www.patreon.com/posts/january-2023-78104769

Now, as for February's Report, let's get into it!

February 2023 Progress Report - Stronger Than Before

February is over, which means it's time for a Progress Report!

You know, February is probably the worst month, honestly. 

You blink and it's over. I always forgot the end of it is coming and then BOOM, March.

Now, of course we spent this month working on Sidequests!

You might notice the "sidequest" section of the Progress image is actually split into 4 parts. It should be kinda obvious what those represent.

This month, we officially got all the Act 2 Sidequests completely implemented and functional with the Diary mechanic. 

Most of these we already had done of course, the recruitment quests and whatnot... But there were 4 entirely brand new ones, and the entire Sidequest list had to be entirely re-ordered in game as well, which involves going back and editing all the previous sidequests.

Additionally, we got all the planning in place for the Act 3 Sidequests, of which there are... 9 New ones for us to do!

As for the rest of the team, while Dan is finishing up art for Layla's Lane, Poppy is creating beautiful custom art for Ultimate Moves, and Matt is making serious headway into the last songs of the main story of the game. It won't be long before he's making the Final Boss song, which... Really puts it all into perspective how close we are to finishing this thing.

(Ultimate Ability Art by Poppy)

(Layla's Lane Art by Dan)

We also can't forget our Testers, who are carefully combing through the game to uncover bugs and balancing issues. 

Since there's really not much else to talk about this time except for Sidequests, let's go over a few of the new ones we did.

Buster and Slash-Man

In HorrorVale, most Sidequests in the game relate to recruiting or learning more about your Party Members, but there's actually quite a few in the game that involve regular NPCs and will net you Candy, Items, Equipment, New Services, and more.

Two of those are Buster and Slash-Man, both fan created characters who made it into the via Contests.

First up is Buster, a timid Aberrant (Yes, Aberrant. We see the typo we made in the Screenshot) Monster Hunter running a humble food stand in West HorrorVale.

If you help him investigate some unusual events happening around town, he'll open his Food Stand and allow you to buy from it!

What benefit does this food give...?

You'll have to see for yourself!

Next up is Slash-Man, otherwise known as the Yellow Horror Ranger. Slash-Man has been a Horror Ranger for over 10 years, and as his fellow Rangers have since retired and moved on with their lives, he wants your help to find the next generation of Horror Rangers. 

Give him a hand and you'll not only net yourself a piece of rare equipment at the end but also an utterly nonsensical adventure!

Wraps and Jekyll

Of course, we also finished Wrap's Second Quest, which I'm sure all the Wraps fans will be happy to hear. 

Did you know? You actually need to complete Jekyll and Wrap's Second Quests to recruit them again. 

If you recall, they leave your Party at the end of Act 1 as you head outside the Town walls. 

If you complete their first quests after you've already left town, they'll be instantly teleported away by Layla, forcing you to complete their Second Quests in this instance as well. 

Think of them as the "Tutorial" to Second Quests. 

You'll unlock the ability to do this fairly early in Act 2, so it won't be too long before you're able to get them back. 

Anyways, we're gonna be jumping right back into it and starting on Act 3 Quests, which includes the Second Quests for all the Party Members you can unlock in Act 2!

We'll see you once again this time next month!

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

Take a Taste: with Lugaw Sisig from Mang Boy Alfredo Lugawan Restaurant [Recorded: Feb 18th, 2023]

Hello! It’s time for another “Take a Taste”! The series is about delicious food with my two paper dolls.

And today, I'm reviewing this hot-served Lugaw Sisig from Mang Boy Alfredo Lugawan Restaurant! 🥣😊 How's it taste? Let's find out! 🤔

If you haven't seen my previous episode, then please [CLICK ME!].

So, without further ado, let's get started:

1st to 3rd Image(s): ↑

• So, we're here at the gorgeous Mang Boy Alfredo Lugawan Restaurant! Where they opened 24 hours of eating Lugaw soup (or any dish that they offered) by customers, like us! This is actually, my first time (or our first time) to stepped in during night time. And we all know, that we love eating restaurant at night time! 😋🥣🌙

4th & 5th Image(s): ↑

• Such the case, with this delicious "Lugaw Sisig" that I've ordered. By the way, I'm with my family & my related aunt (or "Tita") for a special dinner night! 😁

• Anyways, the cost of "Lugaw Sisig" is ₱119 ($2.16). Mmmm, this lugaw look scrumptious! The combination of sizzling sisig mixed with warm rice porridge! 🥣😋 (along side with common toppings)

• And yes, the word "Lugaw" is a type word for Asian porridge. So, let's dig in! 😋

6th & 7th Image(s): ↑

• Here's my spoon scooping on two different toppings. The first is the sisig toppings, then next is the boiled egg! Yum-yum! 😋 The fusion dish is fantastic, at the same time, its a bit spicy thanks to the sisig's signature recipe! And the presentation look great on the bowl, I love it! 🥰 Have some, you two! Let's finish this bowl.😋

8th & 9th Image(s): ↑

• Minutes later, we're all done! Thankfully, they offered us a manual service of drinking water to wash out our meal! 💧😊

Overall:

• It's a unique dish, on what could be otherwise, a normal porridge topped with sizzling meal that Filipinos/Filipinas know in love. Will I ordered it again? Absolutely! 😁 However, I want a try other menus that they offered from this lugawan (porridge) resto establishment. And my paper dolls completely agrees.😊

Well, that’s all for now, If you haven’t seen my previous episodes, then I’ll provide some links down below.↓😉

Take a Taste:

○ 2021 Food Reviews: ○

• Popeyes U.S. Spicy Chicken Sandwich [Dec 6, 2021]

• Jollibee Chick'nwich & Crisscut Fries [Dec 21, 2021]: Part 1 [CLICK ME! #1], Part 2 [CLICK ME! #2]

○ 2022 Food Reviews: ○

• Mini Stop Chicken Fillet XL Sandwich [Feb 7, 2022]

• Minute Burger Cheese Burger(s) [Mar 1, 2022]

• Pepper Lunch Teriyaki Beef Pepper Rice w/ Egg (& Honey Brown Sauce) [Mar 5, 2022]

• Bacsilog’s Sulit Combo Bacon-Tocino & Samgyup Day’s Pork Herbs [Mar 12, 2022]

• Burger King Whopper w/ Sides & Drink [May 6, 2022]

• Marshmello’s Limited Edition Coca-Cola Zero [Aug 26, 2022]

• Cheesy Burger McDo with Lettuce & Tomatoes Meal [Recorded: Sept 16, 2022]

• Mcdonald’s PH McSpicy & Apple Pie (featuring their World Famous Fries) [Nov 14, 2022]

• Mcdonald’s McCrispy Hamonado Sandwich [Dec 31st, 2022]

○ 2023 Food Reviews: ○

• Foods from Delicious Restaurant & 1919 Grand Cafe [Jan 8th, 2023]

• Homemade Churros by my lil’ bro [Feb 12th, 2023]

Tagged: @bryan360, @carmenramcat, @leapant